PR 056 Roman Legatus

All Roman military degrees, above centurion or praefectus, were political offices.

Usually, they were members of the senate or the patriciate, who followed the career of honor, which required every Roman aristocrat, to pass through the army as part of their training as a political leader or member of the Senate.

I could hardly reach a consul if you had not had the command of a legion before.

Not even a provincial governor.

This does not mean that these generals were amateurs, the fact of not being professionals like the centurions, did not imply deficiencies in strategy, tactics or leadership skills.

It is true that there were also bad generals, but that also happens in armies with a professional general.